If you have an electric bike, escooter, or emoped, you will need to charge it.
Thankfully, this is easier than it used to be. Battery technology has developed a lot in the last few years; charging is easy.
You can either plug it in directly to the wall or remove the battery from your ebike and then connect it to the charger.
The charger will have a red light if the power is low and then a green one when the battery is done charging. Usually, the indicator light will blink while the battery is charging, which lets you know that it is getting powered.
On some light electric vehicles, there are lights on the battery to warn you when the battery is low. A full charge generally takes three to seven hours, but most batteries have a long enough range that you won’t have to charge them after every use.
Your battery will generally last about 500-1,000 full charge cycles. Depending on the bike and how you use it, this can be anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 miles. This is for a typical lithium-ion battery. There are, however, different battery styles, which connect to your bike in different ways.
Maximizing this battery life requires looking after your battery properly. When you get your new battery, it will probably need charging before the first ride. Here are some things you can do to extend your battery’s life.
Never Let It Fully Discharge
Except in certain rare situations, when letting the battery fully discharge once in a while can be helpful, you should not let the battery drop below 10 percent. Lithium batteries also don’t like to be left sitting around discharged. Doing so can cause the battery to die prematurely.
The best practice is to recharge after every ride or, if you are commuting and don’t want to keep a charger in your office, every day. Contrary to some myths, this won’t wear the battery out faster. The cycle limit is full charges, not partial ones. By not draining the battery completely, you let some of the cells rest and retain a longer life cycle.
Lithium batteries also benefit from regular use. If you only use your bike seasonally, then you need to top off your battery at least once a month during the off season, or you run the risk of discovering your battery won’t charge when riding season starts again. Storing an empty battery will make it harder for it to charge and reduce your range.
Try to Always Fully Charge Your Battery
It’s best to fully charge your battery. With modern batteries, if you recharge overnight you can be sure your battery will be fully charged in the morning. If you are in a hurry, it’s fine to only partially charge it, but you shouldn’t make this your regular habit. At the very least you need to let the main cycle complete, after which there is a top-up cycle which is less important. The first 80 percent will charge faster than the last 20 percent.
Try Not To Use or Charge your Battery in Extreme Heat or Cold
Temperature extremes can mess with lithium batteries. Batteries should be stored at a temperature between 32 and 104 Fahrenheit, and generally the best place to keep the battery is in your garage. The optimal temperature is 50 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, so on extremely hot or extremely cold days it might be worth detaching the battery from the bike and bringing it into the house.
Just like with smartphones, your e-ride’s battery life will get worse in extremes of temperature. Fortunately, those extremes are when you probably don’t want to be riding anyway, but if you do have to bear in mind that you will lose range, and you may have to keep an eye on your battery.
Never Immediately Re-Charge Your Battery
Once your battery is charged, and you have unplugged it, don’t plug it in again without using it. This can result in the battery over-charging by weakening the mechanism designed to keep it from doing so.
In extreme cases, this can result in your battery leaking and possibly exploding. If you aren’t sure if your battery is charged, check the screen on your light electric vehicle. Unplugging the battery and plugging it back in to make sure it’s fully charged is not the way to make sure it actually is.
Always Use the Right Charger
Batteries and chargers come together. Always use the charger that came with your e-bike, e-scooter, or emoped. Or, if you buy a second charger to keep in your office or another location, a charger from the same manufacturer that is compatible.
Batteries have slightly different optimum charge rates, and a mismatched charger can push either too much or too little power into your battery, causing a strain on it and shortening its life. Resist the temptation, unless you are completely stranded, to borrow a friend’s charger that’s designed for a different vehicle.
One last note. Some batteries have an on-off switch on them. Always turn the battery off when charging it, otherwise your battery will be charging and draining at the same time, slowing the charge cycle and again, putting more strain on your battery. It’s like using your smartphone while it is plugged in.
Batteries for ebikes, escooters, and emopeds are one of the more expensive components. They can be replaced, but you want to keep them working as long as possible, both for the sake of your bank balance and the sake of the environment.
